Midnight
by Lizzie Jean Potter
Summary: Meet Lily Callery, the girl that goes through the wonders of Bella's life. But there's one problem. Lily's eighth vampire but doesn't know about it. Sometimes she gets the attributes of a vampire, inhuman speed, inhuman strength and thirsts for blood. She usually ignores it but when she moves to Forks, a group of strangers meet her eye and she finds herself in love with a vampire..
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: What if Isabella (Bella) Marie Swan didn't exist? What if someone else took her place? Meet Lillian (Lily) Luna Callery, as she goes through the wonders of Bella's life. But there is one problem. Lily's Grandma was half vampire. That makes her part vampire but she doesn't know anything about it. Whenever Lily gets a strong emotion she can run at an inhuman speed, she gets inhuman strength, and she thirsts for blood... She tries ignoring it but when she moves to Forks, a group of strangers meet her eye and she finds herself in love with a vampire...**

My father drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy degrees in Phoenix; the sky was my favorite, a perfect cloudless blue.

I was going to Forks, the opposite of Phoenix. The sky was always a grayish blue colour, filled with clouds, if you were lucky, there would be some sunshine.

'Lily,' said my dad 'You don't have to do this.'

'I want to go,' I lied. I've always been a good liar, but anyone close to me knew when I lied.

'Tell Annabeth I said hi.'

'I will.'

'I'll see you soon. You can come home whenever you want, I'll come right back as soon as you need me.'

'Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Love you dad.'

I hugged him for a moment and let him go. I got on the plane and he was gone, and so was the sunny weather. It was a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles and an hour drive to Forks. Annabeth has been fairly nice about the whole thing. She seemed pleased that I was coming to live with her. She'd already gotten me registered for a high school and was going to help me get a car.

When I landed in Port Angeles it was raining, the usual. Annabeth was waiting for me by her car, a black Audi.

'It's good to see you Lily,' she said as she gave me a hug. 'You haven't changed much. How's Connor?' she asked.

'Dad's fine. It's good to see you too Anna,' I said as I smiled at her. This was one thing I liked about my mom. I was aloud to call her Anna instead of mom or Annabeth. My mom looks like me but her hair is shoulder-length and her skin is a bit paler. Well, she is part albino.

'I found a good car, really cheap,' she announced when we went in the car.

'What type of car?' I asked.

'It's a Toyota, the smallish kind.'

'Where did you find it?'

'Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?' La Push is the small Indian reservation on the coast.

'Billy Black and Jacob Black?' I asked. Whenever I came to visit my mom for the holidays I always went to Jacob's place. I went over three years ago year in the winter holidays and fixed a car with Jacob Black. After that we always tinkered with a car when I came over.

'He's in a wheelchair now,' said Anna, 'so he can't drive anymore so he offered to sell me his car cheap.'

'How cheap is cheap?' I asked.

'Well, I kind of bought it for you already as a homecoming gift.'

Wow. Free.

'You didn't have to do that Anna. I was going to buy myself a car.'

'I don't mind. I want you to be happy here.'

'Thanks, I really appreciate it,' I said with a smile.

'You're welcome Lily.'

And that was it for our conversation.

We sat in the car for long time until we made it to Anna's place. She still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that she'd bought with my dad in the early days of our marriage.

There, parked in front of the house that never changed was my new - well, new to me - car. It was a nice silver colour. A Toyota Aygo.

'Wow, I love it! Thanks!'

'I'm glad you like it' said Anna, embarrassed.

It took one trip to get all of my stuff upstairs. I got the west bedroom which faced over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had belonged to me since I was born. The wooden floor, the baby blue walls, the peaked ceiling, the yellow lace curtains around the window. The only changes Anna had ever made was switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as I grew. The desk now held a computer so that I and Connor could communicate easily.

Anna left me alone to unpack and get settled.

When I finished putting my clothes in the wardrobe, I took my bathroom necessities and went to the bathroom (the only bathroom in the house).

I took a quick shower, drying myself and dried my hair. I examined my face in the mirror as I brushed my dark red hair.

I changed into my sweat pants and sweater, and lay down in my bed. I thought about Phoenix, about the sunshine, about my friends there. Tears were threatening to overflow but instead, something else happened.

I felt an ache on my arm. I moved my arm but it went to my other arm, dubbing the ache. Then it went through my whole body. My whole body throbbed a little, like pinching yourself hard and letting go. That type of ache. It didn't hurt a lot and it never lasted long, only ten seconds or so. The ache faded away, my vision became sharper and I could feel strength surging through my body. I looked out of my window; I was able to see the tiny pattern on the butterfly looking for a place to hide in all the rain. I grabbed the end of my bed and pulled, a handful of dented metal was in my hand. I squeezed it and it crumbled to dust. I jogged to the bathroom, at an inhuman speed. My face was chalky pale; my usual blue eyes were an intense, dark colour.

'Why me?' I mumbled. I always had this _thing_, it happened when I get a strong emotion like sadness, happiness or anger. My senses get stronger, my skin gets chalky pale, my blue eyes go dark and I thirst for blood. I've always ignored it but I was born with it and it kept getting stronger and stronger until I couldn't control it anymore. At the age of eleven, I decided that I should just live with it.

'Mom, I'm going outside for a walk, _it_ happened again,' I called going down the stairs. Anna knew about _it_ of course I mean someone had to know it, right?

'Come back before sunset,' she said. 'And don't bother anything too big.'

I ran out of the house, jogged into the woods and when I knew I was far enough for no one to see me, I started parkouring. I climbed a tree quickly, walked down a branch and jumped to another tree. I caught the branch with my hands and using my momentum, I swung to the next tree, doing a somersault in the air. I landed on the tree with both feet, jumped to the floor and ran very fast, the trees flying by.

I was enjoying my moment when a scent caught me off guard. Deer, I thought immediately. I stopped at once.

I quietly sneaked up on it and on the last possible moment, I lunged at it. My teeth went through its neck like a knife through butter. Before it could react I drained all its blood, leaving the lifeless animal on the floor. I wiped the blood off my mouth and continued my journey. I wasn't satisfied yet so I ran to the Goat Rocks Wilderness, there were a lot of bears there and it was fun to annoy them.

It took me about half a minute to get there. I smelled a bear not too far away. But then I smelled something else. It wasn't a human and it wasn't an animal. It smelled like well, I don't even know how to describe it. Well, just imagine a really nice honey-like smell that makes you feel all soft inside.

I followed the scent and stopped when I saw an animal. Grizzly Bear. I ran to the bear and nearly tripped over my feet when I saw a human. No, not a human, something that looked like a human. Imagine a big human with curly brown hair and pale skin, that's what I saw. Somewhere in the distance I saw another one, pale skin, bronze hair and he was feeding on a bear too.

Then the bronze haired boy looked up and met my eyes. They were a golden colour, but when they met mine, they got darker until they were nearly black.

Before he could do anything, I ran away. Back home actually. I ran the whole way, not stopping once.

When I got to my street I slowed down automatically. I sprinted to the door and opened the door with the keys and went inside, dropping my keys on the table.

'Mom, I'm home,' I called as I went to the bathroom.

'What happened Lily?' she asked when she saw my probably worried expression.

'Nothing mom, I uhm, nearly got eaten by a bear, I wasn't paying attention,' I lied. Anna knew I was lying but she didn't talk to me about it again.

I went to the bathroom to check myself.

I was still pale with crimson eyes now. I used to think I was part vampire or something but that meant that my mom or dad was a vampire or that vampires exist, something that wasn't true. I went to my room and read _Hunger Games_, a novel by Suzanne Collins and fell asleep after reading a few pages.

I woke up with my book on the floor. I yawned and looked at my colour, _it_ was gone now.

The next day was my first school day. Darn it. I've always loathed the first day of school in Phoenix but there I had my friends to trust. But here there was no-one.

I quickly went to the bathroom and had a quick shower.

'Lily, I've already made breakfast for you,' called Anna from the bottom of the stairs.

'Thanks Anna,' I called back. Anna works in a bakery called 'Cake and Bake'. She bakes the sweetest cupcakes and donuts ever.

I grabbed all my stuff (stuff being my school bag and my jacket) and went down the stairs.

Anna was putting on her jacket when I went down.

'Have to go to work Lily,' she said. 'Have fun at school,' she added as she left.

I ate my chocolate chip cookie quickly and drained the milk. I washed the plate and glass and put them back in their place (we don't have a wash-machine).

I didn't want to be too early for school but I didn't want to arrive last minute either. I put on my jacket and grabbed the house keys and my car keys from the small key hanger near the door.

I ran to my car, trying to not get wet. I unlocked it and went inside, tossing my bag to the passenger seat. Inside it was nice and dry but a little cold. I turned on the engine and turned the heating system on.

Finding the school wasn't difficult, even if I've never been there before. It wasn't obvious that it was a school but the Forks High School sign was basically saying 'This collection of matching houses is the school you're looking for, come on in'. The school did look like a collection of houses, built with maroon-coloured bricks.

I drove around the school, following the small road that led to the parking lot (Anna told me about the school). I stepped unwillingly out of the warm car and took a deep breath before opening the door.

Inside it was brightly lit, warmer than I thought it would be. The office was small, a waiting area wit folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, awards cluttering the walls. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter; there were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses.

She looked up. 'Can I help you?'

'I'm Lillian Callery,' I informed her and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes.

'Of course,' she said as she looked through some documents. 'I have your schedule right here and a map of the school.' She brought several sheets to the counter to show me.

She went through my classes for me, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave me a slip to have each teacher sign, which I was suppose to bring back at the end of the day. She smiled at me and hoped that I would like it here at Forks. I smiled back as convincingly as I could.

When I went back to my car, other students were starting to arrive. Most of the cars were old, nothing flashy. The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out.

I studied the map in my car, trying to memorize it so I wouldn't have to walk with it under my nose the whole day.

When it was ten minutes to get to class, I stuffed everything in my bag and kept telling myself, I can do this. I stepped out of the car and walked inside, teenagers all around.

A big black '3' was painted on a white square on the east corner. I felt my breathing speed up as I approached the door. I tried controlling my breathing as I followed two girls into the classroom.

The two girls in front of me hung up their jackets so I copied them.

I took the slip to the teacher, a tall man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me when he saw my name and I blushed lightly as he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me. The work we did in class I already did in Phoenix. I wondered if my dad would send me my folder of essays, or if he would think that was cheating.

When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with skin problems and black hair leaned across the aisle to talk to me.

'You're Lillian Callery aren't you?' he asked.

'Lily,' I corrected.

'Where's your next class?' he asked. Helpful guy, I thought.

'Government, with Jefferson, in building six.'

'I'm headed to building four, I could show you the way...' Over helpful guy, 'I'm Eric.'

I smiled at him, 'Thanks,'

As we walked to building four, we talked.

'So, this is a lot different than Phoenix huh?' said Eric.

'Very different,' I said.

'It doesn't rain much there, does it?'

'Three or four times a year.'

'Wow, what must that be like?' he wondered.

'Sunny.'

We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door though it was clearly marked.

'Well, good luck,' he said as I touched the handle. 'Maybe we'll have some other classes together.' He sounded hopeful.

I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.

The rest of the morning passed in the same fashion. My Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, was the only one who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself.

There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I liked Forks. Most of them went with me to my next class; at least I didn't need the map.

One girl, Jessica, sat next to me in Trig and Spanish and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than me but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of difference between our heights.

We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me.

It was there, sitting in the lunchroom when I first saw them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, away from anyone else. There were five of them. They weren't talking or eating though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them.

They didn't look alike. Of the three boys, one was big with dark curly hair. Another was taller, leaner but still muscular and honey blond. The last one was less bulky, with untidy, bronze-coloured hair. He was more boyish than the others, which looked like they should be in college, so I guessed that he was the youngest.

The girls were opposites. The tall one had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit issue. Her hair was a nice golden colour and waved to the middle of her back. The other girl was shorter, pixie like with small features. Her hair was deep black, cropped short and pointing in all directions.

And yet, they looked all alike. They were all chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. They all had dark eyes and dark shadows under them as if they were suffering from a sleepless night or a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, and angular. Jeez, I could relate to all of that.

There was one thing that caught my eye though. Two of the boys, the one with curly brown hair and the one with bronze hair, were the people I saw when I was at Goat Rocks Wilderness yesterday.

I watched as the pixie like girl suddenly turned to look at me with a curious look on her face. She seemed to be examining me. After a fraction of a second she turned to the honey-blond guy and shrugged a small movement of her shoulder.

I watched as she rose with her tray and walked away with quick steps until she dumped everything in the bin, and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought was possible, the speed I sometimes run with, when _it_ happens

'Who are _they_?' I asked Jessica.

As she looked up to see who I meant, the bronze-haired boy looked at her for a moment. He looked at her for a fraction of a second and then his dark eyes flickered to mine. I saw recognition in his eyes and he looked away quickly, quicker than I could, though I dropped my eyes at once.

Jessica giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.

'That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one that just left was Alice Cullen,' she said.

'They are, very, nice-looking,' I said.

'Yes!' Jessica agreed with another giggle. 'They're all together though. Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice. And they _live_ together,' her voice held shock and condemnation of the small town.

'Are they related?' I asked. 'They don't look like each other.'

'Oh, no they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister - the blondes - and they're foster children.'

'Adopted? They look too old for foster children.'

'They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that.'

'How long have they lived here?'

'Two years. They moved here from somewhere in Alaska.' As we spoke, big one turned to look at me. He turned back to the others and nodded, a tiny movement of his head.

As I examined them, the youngest Cullen looked up and met my gaze, this time as if he had an unmet expectation. I looked at him with curiosity. Pale skin, dark eyes, and bruise-like shadows under his eyes. I can relate to most of that.

'Who is the one with the bronze hair?' I asked her.

'That's Edward. He's gorgeous of course but don't waste your time, he doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him.' She said with a tone of distaste. I wondered if he'd ever turned her down.

A few minutes later the four of them left the table together. I looked at them with a slight frown on my face. Pale skin, dark eyes, inhumanly beautiful.

**Why I'm curious about the Cullens.**

1. They're chalky pale

2. They have dark intense eyes

3. They're inhumanly beautiful

4. If you're inhumanly beautiful, you're not a human unless you

a) Had a plastic surgery

Or

b) Aren't human...

5. One of them (perhaps the others too) can walk at an inhuman speed.

6. They don't eat.

I went to Biology II with one of my new friends, Angela. We walked to class in silence.

When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbour, so did all the others but one. I saw Edward Cullen sitting next to the only open seat.

As I walked down the aisle to get my slip signed, I was watching him out the corner of my eye. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me with a furious expression on his face. I looked away from him at once, wondering why he was angry at me. Oh well, he might not be mad at me, it might be something else that's bugging him.

Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. He made me sit next to Edward. I kept my eyes at the front of the class where Mr. Banner was as I sat in my seat. Edward shifted so he was leaning away from me, sitting on the edge of his chair, his eyes coal black. Okay so he was mad at me. But why?

I thought about all the times we saw each other. In the woods, in the cafeteria and right now. What did I do during all those times to infuriate him?

I felt _it_ again. The dull ache went all over and then it stopped. I smelled a honey-like scent, the one I smelled at the Goat Rocks Wilderness.

I remembered that my eyes got darker, nearly black and told myself that I should remember to put on the contacts that I had.

I listened out for something to distract me. I listened to my heartbeat, which was boring so I listened to someone else's. I rested my head on my hand so my ear was at an angle where I could hear Edward's heartbeat.

But I didn't hear anything at all.

I listened for the teacher's heartbeat, his one was loud and clear and a bit appetizing. Then I thought about all the others in the class which was making my mouth water. I was thirsty but I couldn't just suck on someone's blood without everyone seeing it.

Edward didn't have a heartbeat.

I decided to listen to his breathing.

He wasn't breathing.

I waited five minutes listening to wait for him to breath, something that didn't happen.

Well, there was another thing I could add to my 'Why I'm curious about the Cullens' list.

One of them doesn't have a heartbeat and can last more than five minutes without breathing.

'What is she?' he muttered under his breath.

'Nice to know that we think about each other in the exact same way Cullen,' I hissed at him.

He looked at me surprised, and then I remembered that my hearing became better and I wasn't supposed to hear that. No wonder he was surprised.

After a few minutes of trying to work out why his heart wasn't beating, the bell rang loudly and I was out of my seat and I was out the door before anyone was out of their seats.

I wasn't mad at anyone but I couldn't stand being near him.

Once I was out of the class I ran to the toilet and put on my contacts. Once I got them on, I walked outside and walked to my next class.

The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress for today's class.

I watched four volleyball games, my favorite sport.

Back in Phoenix we had a girl's volleyball tea which I joined. I wasn't really good at other sports but I loved volleyball.

I heard the final bell at last. I walked to the office to return the slips. Luckily it wasn't raining anymore but instead the wind was stronger and colder.

When I walked into the office, I hesitated before walking in.

Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me. He had his back to me and didn't seem to notice my entrance.

He was arguing with her in a low voice. Because of my excellent hearing I was able to understand most of their conversation. He was trying to trade sixth-hour Biology to any other time. I was sure that it wasn't a coincidence. It was something about me that he despised about me.

I didn't want to wait at the door too long so I walked to the desk, put the slips on the table and walked away.

When I got to my car I turned the engine on and drove home.

'Mom, I'm home!' I called as I arrived home.

My mom came out of the kitchen, 'Hello Lily, how was your first day at school?' she asked.

'It was fine.'

She looked at me with a you-can't-lie-to-me look, if that look even existed, 'Tell the truth.'

We had a staring contest, and my mom won.

I sighed. 'There's this guy called Edward Cullen which hates me,' I said.

'Why?' she asked.

'I dunno, I sat in my chair, he leans away and glares at me. Then _it_ happened and he relaxed,' I said.

'It'll be fine Lily,' she said and rubbed my back comfortingly.

'I'm gonna go do my homework,' I muttered and ran to my room before my mom could respond.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was better, one of the best days I've had since I got to Forks. It was better because it wasn't raining... yet. It was better because we played volleyball and I scored three points. It was better because I had someone to go to with every class. It was better because I had a group to sit with at lunch time each day. And because Edward Cullen wasn't there.

It's not that I don't like him, I mean, he's fine but it's hard to concentrate in class while a guy without a heartbeat glares at you when you barely know him.

At lunch when I walked into the cafeteria with Jessica, I sighed with relief when I realized that Edward wasn't with them.

One of Jessica's friends Mike saw us and brought us to his table. Jessica seemed to like the attention and her friends joined us. As I tried to listen to their conversation, I was waiting nervously for him to come.

I walked confidently to Biology with Mike when Edward didn't show up for lunch. I held my breath at the door and exhaled when he wasn't in his seat. Since Edward wasn't in Biology I guessed that he wouldn't be there for the rest of the day. Mike talked to me about an upcoming trip to the beach and when the bell ringed he went to sit at his desk.

I waited until the lesson was five minutes in until I decided that he wasn't coming at all.

I was relived that I had the desk to myself, that Edward was absent. But I couldn't stop thinking about why he wasn't there. And the fact that I thought I was the reason he wasn't here.

Once the school day was finally done, I changed back into my jeans and navy blue sweater after Gym. I walked quickly to my car, trying to avoid Mike. Honestly, he had the qualities of a golden retriever.

Last night I realized that Anna didn't have any food in the house so I took some of her money (with permission of course) to buy stuff. I bought spaghetti, meatballs, potatoes, smashed potatoes, seaweed, and a lot of other of stuff.

When the spaghetti was on the stove and the meatballs were cooking, I took my bag upstairs and turned on my computer to check my email. I got three mails.

'Lily,' my dad wrote.

Write to me as soon as you get there. Is it raining? I miss you already. Tell me how your flight was. Lavender says hi.

Dad

I clicked on the next email.

Lily, why haven't you emailed yet? What are you waiting for?

The last one was from this morning.

Lillian.

If I hadn't heard from you by five, I'm calling Anna.

I checked the clock. I still had about half an hour but I was probably gonna forget about it later.

Dad,

Calm down. Everything is fine. I didn't have anything to write about so I didn't write anything. Of course it's raining. School was fine.

Anna bought me a car, can you believe it? It's the Toyota Aygo that I'd been wanting since I was five.

I miss you too dad. I'll write again soon but not every five minutes.

Lily

I started doing my math homework when I sent the last message.

When my mom came back from her work I heard the faint noise of her boots squeaking as she put them off.

'Lily,' called my mom as I went down the stairs.

'Hey Anna, welcome home,' I said.

'Thanks, what's for dinner?' she asked as she approached the kitchen.

'Spaghetti with meatballs,' I answered, checking on the spaghetti. It was getting a bit stuck on the bottom so I turned off the stove and put the spaghetti in two bowls. I got the meatballs out and put them in the bowls too.

'Thanks Lil,' said my mom as I gave it to her.

We ate in silence, and it bothered me because I was able to hear the faint humming of the heater and I could hear the songs of the cars going by.

'So, how was school? Did you make any friends?' asked Anna.

'I have some classes with a girl called Jessica and there is this boy called Mike that's friendly. Everybody's nice.'

'That must be Mike Newton. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town.'

'Do you know the Cullen family?' I asked.

Anna seemed surprised by my question. 'Dr. Cullen's family? Yeah, I've seen them around.'

'One of the kids, Edward Cullen, wasn't at school today,' I said. I was able to trust my mom with anything; she was like my best friend. That was twenty years older than me. And that took care of me since I was a baby and acted like a mom.

She looked at me concerned. 'Don't tell me you think you're the reason he isn't there,' she said.

'Well, he did look pretty mad when I walked into class and I'm pretty sure that I'm the reason why he's gone,' I said.

'His family usually goes camping or hiking together,' she said. 'He probably went with his dad or something.'

I wasn't convinced.

Our conversation ended there. When we finished eating, I took the dishes and washed them. Then I went to my room and did my English homework. That night I fell asleep reading _Wuthering Heights_, the book we were studying in English.

For the rest of the week nothing really happened. I managed to remember the name of nearly everyone in my classes, maybe everyone in my classes. Edward Cullen didn't come back to school at all.

At lunchtime Mike was organizing a trip to the beach in two weeks. I was invited, and I had agreed to go.

By Friday I was a hundred percent sure Edward wouldn't come. He took the week off, he dropped out of school or he went camping with his dad. But I was worried about the fact that I might be the reason that he's gone.

My first weekend in Forks was uneventful. Anna went to the bakery half the day since she's used to having an empty house. I cleaned the house and did most of my homework. I sent my dad an email about the trip to the beach but I didn't write anything about Edward. I didn't want him worrying a lot.

On Monday people greeted me at the parking lot but since I didn't know most of their names I waved back and smiled. It was colder this morning but luckily it wasn't raining. In English we had a pop quiz on _Wuthering Heights_. It was pretty easy.

When we walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white.

'Wow,' said Mike. 'It's snowing.'

'So that's how snow looks like,' I muttered. I liked snow more than rain since it wasn't as wet, until it melted all over the place and made the ground slippery.

Mike looked surprised, 'Have you never seen snow fall before?'

'Nope, only on TV.'

Mike laughed, and then a wet dripping ball of snow hit the back of his head. We both turned to see who it came from. I immediately thought it was Eric since he was walking with his back toward us, in the wrong direction of his next class. Apparently Mike had the same thought as me. He bent over and started scraping snow together, making a snowball.

'I'll see you at lunch, okay?' I said walking away.

He just nodded his eyes on Eric.

Throughout the morning everyone talked about the snow; apparently it was the first snowfall of the New Year.

I walked to the cafeteria with Jessica after Spanish. Snowballs were flying everywhere as we ran to the cafeteria. We both got hit by some but by the time we arrived, most of the snow had melted.

Mike caught up with us as we brushed the snow off ourselves, laughing with ice melting on his spiking hair. He and Jessica were talking animatedly about the food fight as we lined up for the food. I glanced at the Cullen table like I did everyday and froze. Edward was there.

'Lily, what do you want?' asked Jessica pulling my arm.

'Uhm, I'll take a salad,' I answered taking it. I wasn't really hungry anymore but I didn't want them thinking I was sick.

I waited for them to get their food, and then followed them to a table.

I ate my salad slowly. Twice Mike asked how I was feeling. I said it was nothing but he didn't look convinced.

I looked at the Cullen family's table. If he was glaring at me, well, then I was probably the reason he was gone. But the world was full of billions of people; don't let one person ruin your day.

They were laughing. Edward, Jasper and Emmett all had their hair entirely covered with melting snow Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair towards them.

But there was something different. Edward's skin was less pale and after a second of looking at his eyes I realized they were lighter, honey coloured. I shook my head when I saw the change of his eye colour. I was just imagining things. I think.

'Lily, what are you staring at?' asked Jessica.

At that exact moment, his eyes flashed over to meet mine. We had eye contact for like, a second until I looked down. I was pretty sure that he wasn't glaring at me like the last time I'd seen him.

'Edward Cullen in staring at you,' Jessica giggled in my ear. I sighed and looked up. He was looking at me with the look from before, the unmet expectation one.

'What was with him last week?' she asked suddenly.

'What?' I asked.

'Mike said during Biology he wasn't acting normal,' she said

I nearly snorted, _not acting normal._

'Oh, that. I don't know what it was, I have the feeling he doesn't like me.'

'The Cullens don't like anyone... well, they don't notice anyone enough to like them. But he's still staring at you?' she said smirking.

'Stop looking at him,' I hissed.

She snickered but she looked away.

Mike interuppted us then, he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted us to join. Me and Jessica agreed enthusiastically. I never joined a snowball fight so I had no idea what it'd be like. I guess there was a first time for everything.

For the rest of the lunch hour I kept my eyes at my own table and occasionally said something about whatever they were talking about.

I walked with Mike to class as usual, but when we went out the door, everyone including me groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away. My first thought was that the ground was going to be icy tomorrow if it snowed again. I pulled my hood up as Mike complained about the rain on the way to building four.

Once I was in the class, I saw that my table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, giving out a microscope and a box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes which explained Edward's absence. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling a cat on the last page of my notebook.

'Hello,' said a quiet, musical voice. Even though I never heard the voice before I knew it was Edward Cullen. I stiffened and muttered a quick hello back.

'My name is Edward Cullen,' he continued and I looked up at him. He was still sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed but his chair was angled towards me. 'I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Lily Callery.'

'How do you know my name?' I asked.

'Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive,' he laughed.

I rolled my eyes. 'I mean why did you call me Lily?'

'Do you prefer Lillian?' he asked confused.

'No, I like Lily. But I think Anna, I mean my mom, always calls me Lillian behind my back. That's what everyone knows me as.' I said.

'Oh,' He let it drop.

Luckily Mr. Banner started the lesson at that moment. I tried concentrating as he explained what we'd be doing today. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cell into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't suppose to use our books and he'd come in twenty minutes to see who got it correct.

'Ladies first, partner?' Edward asked.

I looked up at him and saw him smiling a crooked smile that I seemed dazed for a second. I tore my eyes away from his.

'Sure,' I said and snapped the first slide into pace under the microscope. I adjusted it to the 40X objective and studied it for a second or two.

Sometimes I was able to control _it _(I should really stop calling _it_ 'it' and find a proper name for it) and get better hearing, eyesight or get stronger and I was using it right now for eyesight.

'Prophase,' I said confidently. He didn't look convinced.

'Do you mind if I look?' he asked as I began to remove the slide. His hand caught mine, to stop me, as he asked. His fingers were as cold as ice. But that wasn't why I pulled away so quickly. When he touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us. Literally. It was like getting an electric shock, but ten times worse*.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered, pulling his hand back immediately. However, he continued to reach for the microscope. I watched him as he studied the slide for an even shorter time than me.

'Prophase,' he agreed. He swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and glanced at it curiously.

'Anaphase,' he murmured, writing it down as he spoke.

'May I?'

He smirked and pushed the microscope towards me.

I looked through the eyepiece, only to be disappointed. Darn it, he was right.

'Slide three?' I held out my hand not looking at him.

He handed it to me; it seemed like he was being careful not to touch my skin again.

I took a short look and said 'Interphase,' and passed him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a quick peek and wrote it down.

We were finished before anyone else. I saw Mike and his partner comparing two slides and another group had their book under the table.

I glanced up at Edward and saw him staring at me with the look of frustration in his eyes. Suddenly I saw the difference. His eyes were lighter, darker than butterscotch but with the same golden tint. So I wasn't imagining stuff in lunchtime.

I started doodling on my notebook as I waited for Mr. Banner to come.

Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the lab and then stared more intently to check the answers.

'So, Edward, didn't you think Lillian should get a chance with the microscope?' Mr. Banner asked.

'Lily,' Edward corrected automatically. 'Actually, she identified three of the five.'

Mr. Banner looked at me now, his expression was skeptical.

'Have you done this lab before?' he asked.

'With whitefish blastula,' I said.

'Were you in an advanced placement in Phoenix?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, I guess it's good you to are partners.' he said and walked away. After he left, I continued doodling on my notebook.

'It's too bad about the snow isn't it?' asked Edward.

'I guess, but I never saw snow before,' I said.

'You haven't?' he sounded surprised.

'If you lived in a sunny place where it rained about three times a year you don't really see any snow,' I said.

'So why did you move here?' he asked.

'It's complicated,' I said. When I didn't want to talk about something I said 'It's complicated' or 'Long story'.

'I think I can keep up,' he pressed.

I paused for a long moment. I didn't look at him; I'll probably blurt everything out.

'My dad got remarried,' I said.

'That doesn't sound so complex,' he disagreed. 'When did that happen?'

'Last September,' I said looking up at him.

'And you don't like her,' Edward surmised.

'No, Lavender's fine. She's is a really good cook,' I said.

'Why didn't you stay with them?'

'Lavender travels a lot. She's a tennis player.'

'Have I heard about her?' he asked, smiling.

'Probably not. He's in a minor league.'

'And your dad sent you here so that he could travel with her,' he said.

'Other way around. Connor missed Lavender so I decided to move here so he could travel with her,' I said.

'But now you're unhappy,' he pointed out.

'I'm not unhappy,' I muttered unconvincingly. 'So that's all.'

'You put on a good show. But I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see,' he said.

I grimaced at him and looked away.

'Am I wrong?' he asked. I kept silent at his question.

'I didn't think so,' he murmured smugly.

'Why do you care?' I asked annoyed.

'That's a very good question,' he muttered to himself.

I sighed, glaring at the blackboard.

'Am I annoying you?' he asked. He sounded amused.

'Not exactly,' I murmured.

Mr. Banner called the class to order then and I turned to look at him as I thought about what just happened. The guy that hated me stopped glaring at me. I told the story of my like to the same guy. Nice Lily, nice, I thought to myself.

When the bell finally rang, Edward was out of the door as quickly as I did on Monday.

Mike skipped to my side and took my books for me.

'That was awful,' he groaned. 'They all looked exactly the same. You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner.'

'I already did this lab before, it was kinda easy for me,' I said.

'Cullen seemed friendly enough today,' he commented.

'I wonder what was with him on Monday.'

I couldn't concentrate on Mike's chatter as we walked to Gym. Mike was on my team today and I scored a point with his help.

The rain was misty when school was over and I was walking to the parking lot, but I was happier when I got into my car. When the car was on I turned the heater and looked around to make sure it was clear. I saw Edward leaning against his car and staring intently in my direction. I looked away frowning as I threw my car into reverse, nearly hitting a Toyota in the process. I slammed my foot on the brake and pulled out again. As I was driving away, I swear I saw him laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here is Chapter 3! Sorry about the delay, my internet wasn't working and I was kinda busy...**

When I woke up in the morning, something was different. It was the light. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window.

I jumped up to look outside and groaned in horror.

A thin layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my car and whitened the road. But that was't the worst part. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid, making iciles hanging from trees and making the road deadly slippery. I thought about skipping school, I had a bad feeling about today.

I brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, and did all the usual morning stuff.

Anna had already left to work before I got downstairs. I made some scrambled eggs and put all my books in my bag as I waited for it to finish.

Once it was done I ate it quickly and took all my stuff for school. It took all my willpower to not slip as I walked to my car. I wiped the snow of the windows when I stood infront of my car, and nearly lost my balance. I sighed as I put all my things in the car and started the engine.

My car had no problem with the ice on the roads, but I still drove slowly, not wanting to create a havoc.

When I got out of my car at school, I saw why I had a little trouble. I walked to the back of my car to check my tires. There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them.

Anna got up who knows how early to put snow chains on my car. I smiled as I thought of that.

I was standing by the back corner of my car, about to walk to my first class when I heard an odd sound.

It was a painfully loud screech that grew louder by the second and I looked up in an instant.

I saw several things at once. It wasn't moving in slow motion, like it does in the movies but I was able to absorb everything.

Edward was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. His pale face stood out from all the other faces. But the thing that caught my eye was the big blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. Following my instincs, I dropped to the floor and rolled away from the van in a second, ending up next to the tan car I'd parked next to. Yay for the weirdishly strong side of me. I didn't know what had happened but the van curled gratingly around the end of the truck and was about to collide with my car and I wasn't going to let that happen.

I went to the back of my car and quickly held up my arms, slowing down the van. The force of the van back pushed me back and I banged my head on the floor. At the same time, two long white hands shot out protectively in front of me and the van shuddered to a stop, the hands leaving a large dent in the side of the van's body. I didn't have to check to see if it was Edward Cullen, I already recognized him by his bronze hair.

One of his hands was going to grip under the body of the van and the other one was going to drag my legs but I was already sitting on one knee on the floor.

It was silent for one long second before the screaming began. I heard more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly in all the yelling, I could hear Edward's voice in my ear.

'Lily? Are you all right?' he asked.

'I'm fine,' I said.

'Be careful,' he warned. 'I think you hit your head pretty hard.'

I was already aware of the throbbing on my head but I ignored it. I looked at him and then I actually realized he was there.

'How'd get here so fast?' I asked.

'How did you get away so fast?' he asked.

'I asked first,' I said.

But before he could say anything else, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces found us.

'Don't move,' someone instructed.

'Get Tyler out the van!' someone else shouted.

There was a flurry of movements around us.

'You were at your car,' I said. 'You were four cars away.'

His expression turned hard, 'No, I wasn't.'

'I saw you, by your car, staring at me in horror because I was about to get hit by a van. I saw you running,' I said.

'And I saw you, at the back corner of your car and you moved to the car next to you in less than two seconds,' he said.

'I didn't,' I said. 'When you came I was still at the back of my truck,' I half-lied. 'Now, how'd you get so far?' I asked. I wasn't going to give up on this argument.

'I was standing with you,' he said.

'No you weren't,' I said.

'Please Lily,' he said as I heard the sirens.

'Please what?' I demanded.

'Trust me,' he pleaded.

'Do you promise to tell me the truth?' I asked.

'Fine,' he snapped. I had the feeling I wasn't going to get anything out of him.

It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van far enough to bring the stretchers in. Edward and I refused ours but he said I hit my head and probably had a concussion. I glared at him for a moment as he As they were loading me in the back of the ambulance, I saw Anna coming before they could get me away.

'Lily!' he yelled in panic when she saw me in the strecher. She ran to me and I jumped off the strecher and hugged her when she spreaded her arms wide.

'I'm fine Anna,' I sighed. Then I turned to the EMTs, 'I don't need a strecher, I can walk easily by myself,' and got into the ambulance.

When we got to the hospital they put me in the emergency room, a long line of beds seperated by curtains. A nurse put a pressure cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue.

There was a flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to me. I recognized Tyler Crowley from my Government class beneath the badges.

'Lily, I'm so sorry!'

'I'm fine, Tyler, are you all right?' I asked.

He ignored me, 'I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong...' he winced as a nurse started dabbing at his face.

'Don't worry about it, you missed me.'

'How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there and then you wre gone.'

'Edward Cullen pulled me out of the way,' I lied.

'Cullen? I didn't see him, wow it was all so fast, I guess. Is he okay?' Ha, I wasn't imagining things.

'Probably. He's here somewhere,' I said.

They brought me to another room then, to X-ray my head. When they finished there was nothing wrong. Not even a concussion. I asked if I could leave, but the nurse said I had to talk to a doctor first.

So I was trapped, with Tyler's apologies and promises to make it up to me. No matter how much times I said I was fine, he continued. Finally, I closed my eyes and ignored him. My bnody stayed in the bed but my mind was miles away.

How did he get away so fast? I asked myself.

_How you got away fast_, said a voice in my mind.

So he has the same, _thing_ as me?

_Probably_, said the voice.

Well, I did see him hunting at Goat Rocks Wilderness and his skin is chalky pale. His eyes were black, coal black. Whatever he was, I was too and I was going to find out what he was, no matter what I'd have to go through. I was probably gonig to regret this.

'Is she awake?' a musical voice asked. I opened my eyes and saw Edward standing at the foot of my bed, smirking. I straightened myself and sat up on the bed.

'Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry -' Tyler began. I buried my head in my hands. He was never going to stop apologizing.

'No blood, no fool,' interuppted Edward.

I heard some squeaky noises as Edward sat on the edge of Tyler's bed. He smirked again.

'So, what's the verdict?' he asked.

'I'm as right as rain but I've got to see a doctor before I can leave,' I said. 'But it doesn't seem like someone's coming soon,' I muttered.

'Don't worry, I came to spring you,' said Edward.

Then a doctor walked around the corner. At first I thought I thought they were filming a movie in here or something since he was young, blond, and as handsome as a movie star. But, he was pale and tired looking, with circles under his eyes. I just knew that was Edward's father.

'So, Miss Callery,' Dr. Cullen said. 'How are you feeling?' he asked.

'As right as rain,' I said.

he walked to the lightboard on the wall over my head and turned it on.

'Your X-rays look good,' he said. 'Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard.'

I glared at Edward behind 's back. 'It's fine,' I said.

The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along my skull.

'Well, your mother's in the waiting room - you can go home with her now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all.'

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I prodded the place where I fell. I winced lightly as I touced it.

'Take some Tylenol for the pain,' suggested Dr. Cullen.

'It doesn't hurt that mad,' I said. He looked at Tyler, and walked to the next bed.

'I'm afraid that _you'll_ have to stay with us just a little longer,' he said to Tyler.

As soon as the doctor's back was turned I moved to Edward's side.

'Can I talk to you for a minute?' I asked under my breath.

'Your mother is waiting for you,' he said through his teeth.

'She can wait, and I'd like to talk to you under four eyes if you don't mind.'

He glared and strode down the long room. I walked right behind him. As soon as we turned the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face me.

'What do you want?' he asked, sounding annoyed.

'You owe me an explanation,' I said.

'I saved your life, I don't owe you anything,' he said.

'I was able to do it myself, I didn't need your help,' I said. 'And, you promised,' I added.

'Lily, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about,' he said.

'I didn't hit my head,' I said, glaring at him. 'And I know exactly what I'm talking about.'

He glared back, 'What do you want from me Lily?'

'The truth,' I said.

'What do you _think_ happened?' he snapped.

'I can tell you detail by detail,' I said.

'Go ahead,' he dared.

'You were standing four cars down at your own car, staring at me in horror like everyone else. I saw the van skidding over the ice so I dropped and rolled to the back of the car I parked next to. I didn't want my car to break or to get damaged so I went to the back of my car and I slowed down the van but then you came out of nowhere and stopped the van with your bare hands. You didn't get injured, at all, your hands dented the van but you didn't even get a broken nail or a cut. You can't tell me you were standing next to me because Tyler didn't see you either so don't tell me I hit my head too hard,' I said.

He was staring at me incredulously.

'You think I stopped a van from crushing you?' he asked.

I nodded. 'You stopped it with your bare hands. You can accept that atleast, I mean, how did the van stop then? And how could you explain the hand-shaped dent?'

'You got a point,' he said.

'So I'm correct?' I asked. He didn't answer me. 'So you have superhuman strength.' It was more like a statement than a question. He didn't answer me again. 'Why did you even bother?' I asked.

He paused, 'I don't know,' he whispered and walked away.

Aggravated, I made my way to the end of the hallway.

The waiting room was worse than I thought it'd be. I thought four or five people would be there but it seemed like every face I knew was there. Anna rushed to my side.

'I'm fine,' I assured her before she could ask.

'What did the doctor say?' she asked.

' saw me, he said I was fine and I could go,' I said. Mike, Jessica and eric were all there, beginning to come our way.

'Come on,' she said and put her arm around my shoulders.

We drove in silence. I was thinking about school and the next few days. In Phoenix, if the exact same thing happened it'd be on top of thegossip list for days. I wonder if it's the same here.

When we got to the house, Anna finally spoke.

'You've got to speak to Connor,' she said opening the door of the house.

'You told dad!'

'Sorry,' she mumbled.

My dad was in hysterics, of course. I waited until he was done with talking until I attempted calming him down. He begged me to come over, saying that I'd live an ice-free life and there wouldn't be a possibility of a van crushing me to death.

I decided to go to ed early that night, I already did all my homework and there wasn't much to do. Anna asked me if I was alright when I went to sleep early since that isn't me. But I assured her that everything was fine. I stared at the ceiling untill it dissolved into nothingness an I drifted to sleep.

That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen.

**A/N: There is Chapter 3! Again, sorry for taking ages to update the story, I had stuff to do and the internet wasn't working (we got it fixed today, yay!)**

**Here, take a virtual cookie, (::) and a picture of me when I finished the chapter,**

**(\(***o***)/)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here is Chapter 4! And on the 17th of June until the 20th I'm gonna be on camp so I won't be writing so I'll put chapter five up in like, two weeks.**

If your friend told you she dreamed about a boy, you'd probably think that she was on a date with him or something. But no, this is me and I don't dream about going on dates with boys.

I was standing in a dark room, only lit by the light glow of two bodies. The first one was me, in front of a body length mirror, looking at my reflection. My skin was pale, as pale as the Cullens and Hales, and my eyes were a dark shade of gold. I looked over my shoulder and saw Edward Cullen, pale as ever, walking away. Having a feeling that he knew what was happening, I ran after him. No matter how fast I ran, how loud I called, he never turned.

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for a while so I did what I did in Phoenix. I rolled out of bed and opened my door. I peeked out but didn't see or hear the anything, except for Anna snoring. That was unusual, she never snores. I walked down the stairs silently and walked into kitchen. I made myself hot chocolate drank it quickly and went back to my bed. I don't know why but this helps whenever I can't sleep.

After that, he was in my dreams every night, always out of reach. And we were running out of chocolate milk.

To my annoyance, I was the center of attention for the rest of that week. Tyler was the worst, following me around, saying that he'll make it up to me. I tried to convince him what I wanted more than anything else was for him to forget all about it, but he ignored me. He followed me between classes and sat at our now crowded lunch table.

No one seemed concerned about Edward, which raised my suspicions about what he was. Jessica, Mike, Eric and everyone else always said they hadn't seen him until the van had been pushed out of the way.

When he sat next to me during class, it was like the old times. He sat as far away as the table would allow and didn't seem aware of my presence

'Hello Edward,' I said as he sat down.

He turned his head a fraction toward me, nodded once, and then looked the other way. The phrase _what comes around goes around_ ran through my head and I gave him the cold shoulder too.

That was the last contact I'd had with him for weeks. I never saw him in Goat Rocks Wilderness though; I guess he stopped going there when he saw me there. And I found out that the _thing_ was getting stronger. When I banged close the door in my room, the handle had finger shaped dents in it (we had to buy a new door). And my favorite snack tasted disgusting. During dinner my lasagna tasted like cardboard. At first I thought it was because I had a bad day but the next day I didn't like it either. Every morning I had to wake up early to hunt so I wouldn't feed on someone during school. But luckily my eye colour stayed the same so I didn't have to wear contacts.

Speaking of school, I sat next to Edward everyday, ignoring him as he was ignoring me. I still watched him though, in the cafeteria or the parking lot. I watched as his eyes got darker and darker as the days passed.

Mike seemed pleased by the obvious coldness between me and my lab partner. I could see he'd been worried that Edward's 'rescue' might have impressed me but was pleased to see that it had the opposite affect.

The snow washed away for good after that icy day. Mike was disappointed because he couldn't have his snowball fight but was happy to know that the beach trip might be possible.

On the first Tuesday of March, Jessica made me aware of the girls' choice spring dance in two weeks. She was planning on asking Mike and wanted my permission.

'Are you sure you weren't planning on asking him?' she asked.

'No, I don't mind,' I said. 'I don't think I'm going.' I don't like interfering with other people's business or love life and I didn't want anyone to be broken hearted because I stole their boy friend.

'It'll be really fun,' she said.

'You have fun with Mike,' I encouraged.

The next day Jessica wasn't her normal self. She was quiet during Trig and Spanish. I had a feeling Mike turned her down knew that I'd be the last person she'd want to talk to.

I realized I was right when Jessica sat as far away from Mike as she could and Mike was unusually quiet.

He was still quiet when he walked me to class and started talking to me.

'So,' said Mike, looking at the floor, 'Jessica asked me to the spring dance.' I knew what he was going to say next.

'Mike, I'm not going to the dance,' I said, a tint of frustration in my voice. The dull ache went over my body and went away. Perfect, I thought. Now I have to make sure I don't look someone in the eye for an hour.

He seemed surprised that I'd already known his question. 'Why not?' he demanded.

'I'm going to Seattle that Saturday,' I made up looking down.

'Can't you go another weekend?'

'Sorry, no,' I said. 'What did you tell Jessica?'

'I told her I had to think about it,' he said uncomfortably.

'Well, you should tell her yes,' I said. 'You shouldn't make Jessica wait any longer, it's rude.'

'Yeah, you're right,' he mumbled and walked back to his seat.

When the class started, Edward was staring at me curiously, the same edge of frustration on his face.

I wasn't looking at him, but out of the corner of my eye I saw his eye colour. His eye colour way different today, a few shades darker than gold but they were getting lighter second by second. So he had contacts or his eye colour changed depending on his mood.

'Mr. Cullen?' the teacher called to a question I didn't hear.

'The Kerbs Cycle,' Edward answered as he looked at Mr. Banner.

I tried to ignore him during the class but sometimes I sneaked peeks at him and he'd still be staring at me. That made me realize that he probably knew my eye colour changed. When the bell rang, I turned my back on Edward and was about to leave.

'Lily?'

I turned unwillingly. 'What?' I asked coldly.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm being very rude, I know. But it's better this way, really.'

I looked at him straight in the eye. 'You should know that I have no idea what you mean.'

'It's better if we're not friends,' he explained. 'Trust me.'

'Who said we were friends or said we were going to be friends?' I asked. Before he could say anything else, I walked out of the classroom.

By the time I was half-way to Gym, luckily my frustration had faded and I was back to normal. Or as close to normal as I could be. A few years ago in Phoenix I ended up deflating a tennis ball because the replacement teacher was annoying. I just told her that the ball had a hole in it and she let it slide.

In Gym we'd moved to basketball but my mind was preoccupied with things and I knew I wouldn't be able to score anything so I settled for passing the ball to the closest teammate I saw.

When it was the end of the school day I ran to my car, not knowing why I wanted to go home so bad.

But when I rounded the corner to my car, I almost took a return when I saw a dark figure leaning against it. Then I realized it was just Eric.

'Hey Eric,' I said as I reached my car.

'Hi Lily.'

'What's up?' I asked unlocking the car door.

'Uhm, I was just wondering... if you would go to the spring dance with me?' I was surprised by his question.

'Thanks but I'm gonna be at Seattle on the day,' I said.

'Oh, maybe next time,' he said.

'Maybe,' I repeated.

He slouched off, back towards the school. As I got into my car, I heard a low chuckle. I saw Edward walked past my car, looking straight forward. I turned on the engine and reversed out into the aisle. Edward was in his car already, sliding in front of me, cutting me off. He stopped there, to wait for his family. I almost banged my head on the steering wheel in annoyance. Once annoying thing after the other. I saw his siblings walking to the car but they were still in the cafeteria.

While I was sitting there, I heard a knock on my passenger window. Confused, looked over. It was Tyler.

I lowered the window. 'Sorry Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen.'

'Oh I know, I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped in here.' He grinned. 'Will you ask me to the spring dance?'

'I'm going to Seattle that day,' I said, my voice a little sharp.

'Yeah, Mike said that,' he admitted.

I was confused, 'Then why-'

He shrugged. 'I was hoping you were just letting him down easy.'

'Sorry, I'm really going to Seattle.'

'It's ok, we still have prom.'

And then he was walking back to his car. I looked forward and saw Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmet getting into the Volvo. Edward's eyes were on me and he was shaking with laughter, I could hear it from here. I guessed that he'd heard every word Tyler said.

'So you also have inhuman hearing abilities,' I said as if I was speaking to someone next to me. He stopped laughing immediately, his eyes getting dark. So I was right. Inhuman strength and hearing, and. I smirked as he drove out of the parking lot and I drove home.

At home I dropped my keys on the dining table and called 'I'm home!' like I usually did.

Anna came down the stairs, her clothes covered in paint. Behind her was a lady about her age, with hair so dark it seemed to have a blue tint in it. She was also wearing an apron covered in paint and her blue eyes widened as she looked at me.

'Oh my gosh! You grew so much!' she squealed. 'I'd hug you but,' she gestured to her clothes and hands. They were full of paint.

'Hey Alex,' I said casually. Alexandra Flynn is Anna's school friend but they somehow managed to keep in touch until today. Alex is a painter, but not one like Leonardo da Vinci or Picasso. She makes a sculpture, buys buckets of paint and starts painting it. But she doesn't use a brush. She scoops up paint with her hands and flicks it to the sculpture. Then she lets it dry and sells it.

'If you want I'll make you dinner in a few minutes,' said Anna.

'I'll have dinner in an hour, I'm going to do my homework,' I said. I walked into the kitchen and had a quick snack. I heard the steps creak as Anna and Alex went upstairs.

I put on some music and started doing my Math homework. I liked Math; you could say it was one of my favorite subjects. I like it because you don't write a lot, only a few numbers and you're done. But I hated it when the alphabet came in. Right now the subject we were doing was Algebra and it took me ages to get to number four.

It took me ages to finish my homework and when I did, I heard the phone ring.

It was Jessica, and she was in very high spirits. Mike had caught her after school to accept her invitation. I celebrated with her briefly as I put my books away. She had to go because she also wanted to tell Angela and Lauren.

After I hung up, Anna and Alex came down in clean clothes; they were done with the painting.

'We finished,' said Alex.

'We ended up having a paintball fight,' said Anna, laughing.

'Well, I'm going home now, bring the sculpture tomorrow if you can,' said Alex.

They walked to the door and talked a bit more. I shook my head, smiling to myself. Sometimes Anna acted so childish I felt like I was the parent and she was the child. Anna came back and went into the kitchen, probably to make dinner. I took _Hunger Games_ off the kitchen table and started reading it again.

'Do you want spaghetti?' asked Anna from the kitchen.

'I'm not hungry, I've had a bad day,' I said.

She emerged from the kitchen. 'It's getting worse isn't it?' she asked.

I knew exactly what she was talking about. 'Kind of.'

'Is it the guy Edward's fault?' she asked.

I looked down, 'No,' I half-lied. Anna looked at me for a while and just sighed.

'Tell me if it gets worse, please, I'll try my best to help. I don't think it'll be permanent. I'm sure it's because _something_ is bugging you, at the corner of your mind,' she said, and headed to the kitchen to make her own dinner.

Then I remembered. 'Anna?' I asked.

'Yeah Lily?' she asked, poking her head around the corner.

'I'm going to Seattle next Saturday, is that ok with you?' I asked.

'Why?'

'Because I need to buy some books because the libraries here don't have a lot and I need to buy some clothes.'

'Well, sure, you can go. Are you going by yourself?'

'Yes.'

'Are you going to be back in time for the dance?'

'No I won't. I'm going there to _avoid_ going to the dance,' I admitted.

'Why don't you want to go?' she asked.

'I don't want to interfere with people's love lives or something. A girl in my Spanish class, Jessica asked Mike out and he said he had to think about it. Then he came to me and asked if I was going to ask him out,' I said.

'Hmm, fair enough,' she said and continued making her dinner.

I thought about what she said before for a moment. Well yeah, there was something that was bugging me. What was Edward? He clearly wasn't human, maybe something like me. I decided to answer my questions.

I took my books and went to my room. I ripped a page from the back of my English book. I made a list, all the things about the Cullens and Hales.

**Everything odd about the Cullens and Hales**

1. I saw two of them feeding off bears, which probably means they drink blood.

2. Their eye colour changes.

3. They are inhumanly beautiful, therefore, they aren't human.

4. They don't eat.

5. They are chalky pale.

6. They are inhumanly fast.

7. They are inhumanly strong.

I took all of them and thought of them one by one.

The first one, they probably drink blood. What drinks blood? I wondered. A vampire.

The second one, their eye colour changes. I'd say contacts.

The third one, well, I'm pretty sure that they aren't human.

The fourth one, they don't eat. Maybe they're on a strict diet but I don't see why they should be on one.

The fifth one, they are chalky pale. Maybe a sickness, maybe they're albinos.

The last two, same reason as the third one, they aren't humans.

They were probably vampires, I thought. But there wasn't enough proof yet so I did what I do whenever I'm in doubt. Research.  
I went to my desk and switched on my computer. It took a long time to load so as I was waiting, I continued reading; I'm a bookworm. When it was done with loading, I went on Firefox and went to Google. I typed in one word.

Vampire.

There were thousands of different results but most of them were about TV shows, Count Dracula, a series called True Blood*. Finally I found a promising site called, Vampires A-Z. I waited as it loaded; I really missed the fast internet in Phoenix. Finally the screen was finished, a simple white background with black text. Two quotes were on the home page.

_Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there's no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possess the mysterious and terrible qualities of both. - Rev. Montague Summers._

_If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete and with all that, who is there who believes in vampires. - Rousseau_

The rest of the site was a list in alphabetical order of all the different myths of vampires. I read carefully through the descriptions, looking for anything that was familiar.

Only two of the entries found my attention. The Romanian _Varacolaci_, a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human, the Slovak _Nelapsi_, a creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight.

I clicked on the 'x' button in horror. Like right now, I was pale-skinned, very strong and fast. And I drink blood. There was no other possible answer.

I was a vampire.

But I didn't always crave for blood, and I wasn't always a pale-skinned -and apparently beautiful- inhuman being. Then I was half-vampire.

I went back to Firefox and typed in, half vampires. Once the results came up I clicked on all of the websites I saw, unless it was a TV show.

It didn't really say anything I thought was real, I saw a few about the series _Darren Shan_ about a boy that gets turned into a half-vampire but he got _turned,_ I was born this way.

I looked at the pictures. There were mostly pictures of movies, which frustrated me, but as I scrolled lower and lower, the pictures got weirder and weirder. I saw one with a vampire (I'm guessing because he has pale skin) was ripping a baby out of a human girl's belly with his teeth. There was blood all over the bed so I guessed that the girl died from blood loss. That was the most realistic picture I'd seen so far.

Well, if the girl in the picture died, shouldn't my mom be dead too? Or maybe it wasn't my mom but my grandma. I've never met my grandma, I've only seen pictures of her when she was around eighteen and my parents never said she was dead.

Wait a minute, that meant my mom or dad was part vampire. It's probably my mom, I thought immediately. She was pale-skinned, once I saw finger-shaped dents on her window sill when I was younger. And she wasn't as surprised as my dad when they found out about my weirdishly strong side. I should really stop calling it weirdishly strong side, or _it,_ or anything else actually. Now I was sure that I was part vampire so I could give it a name... I'll probably make up some nicknames for it.

The next morning, when I pulled into the parking lot, I sat in my car, wondering how I was going to make it today. Now that I was aware that five of the students here were vampires, I felt nervous. I felt like I should tell someone about it but I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to tell any of the boys, we just don't have a bond well enough. I knew I shouldn't tell Jessica, she gossips a lot and I'm sure that if I told her, she'd have the whole school know it in one day.

I was thinking about who to tell it about, or if I should keep my mouth shut (that seemed like a pretty good idea) as I was getting out of the car. I fumbled with my keys and as it fell, I picked it up in mid air just as a white hand flashed and grabbed it too. I pulled the keys out of his hands and locked my car.

'You should really stop that you know,' I said, pocketing my keys.

'Do what?' he asked.

'Rush over so fast it seems like you appear out of thin air,' I said.

'Lily, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant,' he said.

I rolled my eyes, 'Yeah, I'm unobservant and I'm the only one in this school that realized that you have super strength,' I said. 'Why the traffic jam yesterday?' I asked.

'I had to give Tyler his chance,' he snickered.

'You...' I gasped. I didn't know what to say so I turned and started to walk away.

'Wait,' he called. I kept walking, increasing my speed. But he was next to me, easily keeping pace.

'I'm sorry,' he said as we walked. I ignored him. 'I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me,' he chuckled.

'What do you want?' I asked.

'I was wondering if, a week from Saturday-'

I stopped walking. 'Are you serious? Are you _trying_ to be funny?' I asked, looking up at him. The thing I found yesterday flashed in my mind. _Appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human._

His eyes were amused. 'Will, you please allow me to finish?'

I crossed my arms. I guess he took that as a yes because he continued.

'I heard you say you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride.'

That was unexpected.

'What?' I asked, my mind blank.

'Do you want a ride to Seattle?'

'With who?'

'Myself, obviously,' he said.

'Why?' I was still confused.

'Well, I was planning on going to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your car can make it.'

I was back to my normal self.

'My car works just fine, thank you very much,' I said and stormed away.

'But can your car make it there on one tank of gas?'

I ignored his question. 'Honestly, I thought you didn't want us to be friends?'

'I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be.'

'I don't understand.'

'It would be more prudent for you not to be my friend,' he explained. 'But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you Lily.'

I nearly smirked at the last sentence. _I'm tired of trying to stay away from you_. It seems like something someone would say in a romance movie where two sworn enemies fall in love with each other. Then the guy would say "I'm tired of trying to stay away from you".

I sighed, knowing that if I looked into his eyes I'd be dazed. 'Whatever, I'll go with you,' I said.

He smiled briefly, and then his face became serious.

'You really _should _stay away from me,' he warned. 'I'll see you in class.'

He turned and walked back the way we'd come.

'If I should stay away from you, don't ask me to go with you to Seattle,' I called to him.

***It's a real TV series, I never watched it but I've seen the trailer.**

**A/N: I'm already writing Chapter five now so I'll get a head start when I come back from camp. Also, if you like what you're reading, please favorite and follow the story since it'll make me happy enough to write more.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry for the long wait but I was at camp for four days so I couldn't write anything.**

**Here is Chapter 5!**

I switched to Lilacula (I made up a name for the vampire side of me) and made my way to English quickly. I passed Mr. Mason on the way; luckily he didn't see me because I was much too fast. When I was nearly there I switched to my normal self and jogged the rest of the way.

Mike was gaining enthusiasm as he talked about the weather report for this weekend. The rain was supposed to take a minor break and it would still be in the high forties, if we were lucky.

At lunch, I looked at the Cullen table automatically like I used to have done every day, just to check if he was there. I was a bit disappointed when I saw his four siblings sitting there alone. I followed Jessica through the line. She was telling me that Lauren had asked Tyler and Angela had asked Eric, and they both had accepted. I bought nothing but a bottle of lemonade; the food still tasted disgusting to me.

'Edward Cullen is staring at you again,' said Jessica. 'I wonder why he's sitting alone today.'

My head snapped up and I looked at where Jessica was looking. I saw Edward, sitting at a table across his siblings. Once he caught my gaze, he motioned with his hand for me to sit with him.

'Does he mean you?' Jessica asked her voice full of disbelief and envy.

'I'll go see what's wrong,' I muttered.

When I reached his table, I stood behind the chair across from him.

'Why don't you sit with me today?' he asked, smiling.

I sat down slowly, watching him with caution. If he was a vampire, how come no one was dead already? Maybe he had a different diet? Or maybe he was full. The thought made me shudder mentally, thinking of all the humans he might've killed. But if so many people were dead, how come it wasn't in the news? Maybe he didn't drink human blood.

'This is different,' I said, not knowing how long I was there without saying anything.

'Well, I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.'

'You know I don't know what on earth you're saying.'

'I know.' He smiled again, and changed the subject. 'I think your friends are angry at me for stealing you.'

I shrugged.

After a few seconds of silence he said. 'You look worried.'

Well, of course I was worried. Last night I just found out you and your family were vampires, and that I was somehow part vampire too.

'No,' I said. 'It's just, what brought all this on?'

'I got tired of staying away from you. So I'm giving up.'

'Giving up on what?'

'On trying to be good. I'm just going to do what I want now, and let the chips fall where they may.'

'You lost me.'

'I always say too much when I'm talking to you,'

'I don't understand anything so don't worry.'

'I'm counting on that.'

'So, are we friends now?'

'Friends...' he mumbled.

'Or not,' I muttered.

He grinned, 'Well we can try, I suppose. But I'm warning you now that I'm not a good friend for you.'

Well, you're a vampire. And I'm part vampire.

I thought about it for a while. Would I ever tell him about my suspicions? I wasn't very sure of it just yet, just a little more proof and I'd tell him.

'What are you thinking?' he asked.

Whether or not to tell you that I think you're a vampire. But I wasn't going to blurt that out.

Not knowing what to say, I said the thing that was related to what I was thinking about.

'I'm trying to find out what you are,' I said.

His jaw tightened, but he kept his smile in place with some effort.

'Are you having any luck with that?' he asked.

'I guess I do,' I said.

'What are your theories?'

I opened my lemonade and drank it as an excuse not to talk.

'Won't you tell me?' he asked, tilting his head to one side.

I shook my head. 'It's something I'd rather keep to myself.'

'That's _really _frustrating you know,' he complained.

'How's that frustrating?' I asked. 'Just because someone refuses to tell you what they're thinking.'

'Or, if someone did a range of impossible things, _saving_,' I did quotation marks with my fingers on the word "saving", 'your life on one day under impossible circumstances, promising to tell you the truth but never said anything.'

'You've got a bit of a temper, don't you?'

'Only when something really gets on my nerves,' I said.

He looked over my shoulder and then he snickered.

'What?'

'Your boyfriend seems to think I'm being unpleasant to you - he's debating whether or not to come and break up our fight.'

Can he read minds or something?

'I don't know who you're talking about,' I said. 'But you're probably wrong anyways.'

'I'm not. I told you, some people are easy to read.'

I looked at the empty table in front of him. 'Aren't you hungry?' I asked, changing the subject.

'No.' He seemed to be enjoying some private joke. 'You?'

'I'm not hungry either.' I said. 'I've been wondering, do you know Goat Rocks Wilderness?'

'Yes, sometimes I go there with my family, camping,' he said. I was confused. Why would you go camping at a place full of bears? Oh right, he was a vampire, he hunts.

'So it was you and your brother Emmett that I saw the day I came here, wasn't it?'

He went silent, just as I expected him to. His face was hard but expressionless.

'I already have a guess of what you are, and everything else is adding up to it,' I said. Perhaps he was a vampire.

'I wish you wouldn't try to figure it out.'

'Why?'

'What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?'

I shook my head. 'You're dangerous?' I guessed. It sounded more like a statement. 'But not bad. I don't think you are.'

'You're wrong.' His voice was barely audible.

I risked it. 'If I was wrong, half of the students at school would be dead.' Once I said this, his head snapped up. I guess I was right.

I looked at my watch for a second and realized that lunch had ended.

'We're going to be late for class if we don't go now,' I said, standing up.

'I'm not going to class today,' he said.

'Why not?' I asked, pushing my chair in.

'It's healthy to ditch class now and then.' He smiled up to me.

'Well, I'll see you later,' I told him.

I walked to my class quickly, I was a few minutes late but Mr. Banner wasn't in the room yet when I arrived. I sat in my seat, ignoring Mike and Angela who were staring at me.

I doodled in my notebook as I waited for Mr. Banner to come in.

Mr. Banner came in, juggling small cardboard boxes in his hand.

'Okay guys. I want you all to take one piece from each box,' he said as he produced a pair of rubber gloves and pulled them on. 'The first should be an indicator card,' he went on, showing us a white card with four squares marked on it. 'The second one is a four-pronged applicator,' he held up something that looked like a nearly toothless hair pick. '-and the third is a sterile micro-lancet.' He held up a small piece of blue plastic and split it open.

'I'll be coming around with a dropper of water to prepare your cards, so please don't start until I get to you. 'He began at Mike's table again, carefully putting one drop of water in each one of the four squares. 'Then I want you to carefully prick your finger with the lancet.' He grabbed Mike's hand and jabbed the spike into tip of Mike's middle finger. A wrinkle was forming between my eyebrows as I saw the tiny trickle of blood on Mike's finger.

'Put a small drop of blood on each of the prongs.' He demonstrated, squeezing Mike's finger until the blood started flowing. My throat started burning a little as I watched his blood flow. I could nearly feel myself getting paler as I watched his blood.

'And then apply it to the card,' he finished, holding up the dripping red card for us to see. I closed my eyes as I tried to push away the fire. Whenever there was human blood exposed, I got thirsty. If I could see it, it's worse.

'The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should you should all know your blood type. Those that aren't eighteen yet will need parent permission; I have slips on my desk.'

He continued through the room with his water drops. I lay my head down on the table, trying to ignoring the stabs of pain that went through my throat as someone pricked their fingers.

'Lily, are you alright?' asked Mr. Banner. His voice was near my head.

'Not really,' I said, holding my breath so I wouldn't smell anything. But I moved my shoulders up and down so it seemed like I was breathing.

'Are you feeling faint?' he asked. _I'd rather be in the nurse's office than in a room full of 21 students,_ I thought.

'Yes,' I said weakly.

'Can someone take Bella to the nurse, please?' he asked.

I wasn't surprised when Mike volunteered.

'Can you walk?' asked Mr. Banner.

'Yes,' I mumbled.

Mike put his arm around my waist and pulled my arm onto his shoulder. I leaned on him, acting like I was weak so I wouldn't look suspicious.

Once we were outside, I started breathing again since the wind covered up all the smells. I took a deep breath at first, breathing in the fresh air.

'Can we stop for a moment?' I asked Mike. I sat on one of the benches and put my head in my hands. I never held my breath that long before and my lungs hurt a little from it. I breathed through my mouth. It helped a little.

'Lily?' a different voice asked from the distance.

Oh God, not him.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'Nothing,' I muttered just as Mike said. 'She didn't feel well in Biology and I had to take her to the nurse. But she wouldn't go any farther.'

'I'll take her,' said Edward. 'You can go back to class.'

'No, I'm supposed to do it,' protested Mike

Suddenly I was lifted in the air by two arms. I was about to elbow the thing that held me up in the guts but I decided that I should at least know who it was so I opened my eyes. Edward had scooped me up in his arms as if I was feather light. _A creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village. _

'Put me down!' I protested. I could've easily slid out of his arms but I was supposed to be a bit faint and dizzy so I didn't do anything.

'Hey!' Mike called a dozen paces behind us. I tried to get out of his arms again but he had an iron grip on me.

Once I knew Mike was out of sight, I tried again. _Third time lucky_, I thought as I wriggled out of his arms and landed on the floor, feet first.

'How did you do that?' asked Edward surprised.

I shrugged and started walking.

He easily kept up with me. 'Are you going to answer my question?'

'I wriggled out of your arms and landed on the floor. Anything else you want to know?'

'I was holding you with a grip that an average human couldn't get out of. How did you get out?' he asked.

Because I was part vampire, I thought simply. But I wasn't going to say that.

'Maybe I'm not human either,' I said.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

'You're telling me you're not human,' he said. 'Are you serious?'

'Well,' I said, walking to the wall, 'last time I checked, an average human couldn't dig their fingers in brick with their bare hands.' I put the palm of my hand on the brick of the building and pressed down with my fingers. I pulled back and a blob of brick was in my hand.

'Can a human do that?' I asked as Edward watched confused. 'I don't think they can,' I said as I put back the piece of brick back where I got it from.

'We're going to have to go inside so we won't be missing for too long,' said Edward.

'Ok,' I said.

He decided that bringing me inside the nurse's office in bridal style was easier than anything else so I was in his arms again. I don't know how he opened the door but it got warm and I knew we were inside.

'Oh my,' I heard a female voice gasp.

Ms. Cope, the front office receptionist, opened the door wide for him. Edward put me on a cot covered in crackly paper.

'She's a little faint,' said Edward. 'They're blood typing in Biology.'

The nurse nodded. 'There's always one.' Then to me, 'Just lie down for a minute honey, it'll pass.'

'I know,' I said.

'Does this happen often?' she asked.

I shook my head, 'Not very often.'

'You can go back to class now,' she told Edward.

'I'm supposed to stay with her,' he said.

The nurse sighed. 'I'll go get some ice for your forehead, dear,' she said to me and went out of the room.

'What did you mean with, 'Maybe I'm not human either'?' he whispered once the nurse was gone.

'Exactly what I said, maybe not a human being,' I answered, sitting up. We were talking quiet enough so the other nurses couldn't hear us.

'What are you then?' he asked.

'Will you tell me what you are?' I asked. He was quiet. 'Exactly.'

'Can you do me a favour?' I asked.

'Depends on what it is,' he said warily.

'If you're going to hold me like that, warn me beforehand.'

'Okay, that's simple. Can I have one favor in return?' he asked.

'Depends,' I said.

He hesitated for a moment, 'Tell me one theory.'

I crossed my arms. 'No that one,'

'You owe me an answer,' he said but before I could say anything else, I heard the nurse's footsteps and knew she'd hear us if we kept talking.

I leaned back against the wall as I heard the door open and saw the nurse come in with a cold compress in her hand.

'Here you go, dear.' She laid it across my forehead.

'You're looking better,' she added.

'I'm feeling better,' I said, sitting straighter.

She was about to lay me back against the wall but then the door opened, and Ms. Cope stuck her head in.

'We've got another one,' she said.

I got off the cot to free it for the next person.

'I don't think I'll need this anymore,' I said as I handed the compress back to the nurse.

Then Mike staggered through the door, with a pale looking Lee Stephens behind him, another boy in our Biology class. Edward and I drew back against the wall to give them space to pass.

'Oh no,' Edward muttered. 'Go out to the office, Lily.'

I was confused but I didn't think I'd regret anything so I spun and caught the door before it closed, darting out the infirmary. I could feel Edward behind me.

'You actually listened to me,' he said stunned.

I snorted. 'Well, nothing bad would happen if I went to the office.'

Mike came through the door then, glancing from me to Edward. He looked back to me, his eyes glum.

'You look better,' he said.

'The dizziness passed quickly,' I said.

'Are you going back to class?' he asked.

'I'm not sure,' I said uncertainly.

'Well, are you going this weekend? To the beach?' As he said this he flashed a glare at Edward.

'Sure, I said I was in,' I said.

'We're meeting at my dad's store, at ten.'

'I'll be there,' I promised.

'I'll see you in Gym, if you can make it.'

'Bye,' I replied. He looked at me once more, his face slightly pouting and then he walked through the door, his shoulders slumped. I thought about seeing him again, in Gym. In a room with around twenty people.

'Gym,' I groaned.

'I can take care of that,' said a voice near my ear. I jumped back a little; I hadn't seen him come over. 'Go sit and look pale.'

That wasn't hard. I switched to Lilacula, sat on the folding chairs, leaning against the wall and closed my eyes.

I heard Edward speaking at the counter.

'Ms. Cope?'

'Yes?'

'Lily has Gym next hour and I don't think she feels well enough. Actually, I was thinking I should take her home now. Do you think you could excuse her from her class?'

'Do you need to be excused too, Edward?' Mr. Cope asked fluttered.

'No, I have Mrs. Goff, she won't mind.'

'Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better, Lily,' she called to me. I nodded weakly

'Can you walk or do you want me to carry you again?' he asked me with his back to the receptionist.

'I'm fine walking,' I said standing up.

'Thanks,' I said as we were walking outside. 'For excusing me from Gym.'

'Anytime.'

We were quiet for a moment until I started walking to my car.

'Where do you think you're going?' he asked, holding a fistful of my jacket in one hand.

'I'm going home,' I said.

'Didn't you hear me promise to take you safely home?'

'What about my car?' I asked.

'I'll have Alice drop it off after school.' He was pulling me to his car now, by my jacket. I could've easily ran to my car but then my jacket would rip and I wasn't bothered to afford another one so I let myself get pulled.

When we reached his car, he finally freed me.

'You're so pushy,' I mumbled.

'It's open,' was all he responded.

'There's no need to drive me home, I can go myself,' I said.

He lowered the automatic window and leaned to me across the seat. 'Get in the car Lily.' He said.

I looked at my car across the parking lot. I was calculating my chances of reaching the truck before could get to me.

'I'll just drag-' he started but stopped when he realized I was running. I know I'll probably get caught anyways, but I wanted to know, was he as fast as I thought he was or was he slower? I ran full speed, well; I didn't actually know what my full speed was. On the first night when I saw Edward and his brother Emmett in the forest and ran away, I wasn't using my full speed. I never liked it when my surroundings got blurry so I stayed the same speed whenever that happened.

I rushed to my car, feeling his hand only inches from me.

I reached it quickly and stayed at the driver's door.

'So we're both super fast and super strong Edward,' I said leaning against the door.

He didn't say anything. He just grabbed my jacket and pulled me to his car.

'This is completely unnecessary,' I muttered as he tugged my jacket.

He opened the passenger door of his car and lifted me up in there. He walked over to the driver's seat and turned on the engine. He turned the heater up, and the music low.

'Clair de Lune?' I asked surprised when I heard the music.

'You know Debussy?' he asked, as surprised as me.

'A little,' I admitted. 'My mom used to play classical music in the house when she was cleaning up or painting with her friend. I only know my favorites though.'

'It's one of my favorites too.'

I looked outside my window and realized we were going very fast. The car moved steadily down the road, the only thing giving it away was the town flashing by.

'What is your father like?' he asked.

'He's outgoing, he's braver than me, he's a survivalist. He likes hiking, camping, fishing, a lot of things.'

'How old are you Lily?'

'Seventeen,' I said.

'You don't seem seventeen.'

'You don't seem seventeen either,' I said.

He made a face and changed the subject.

'So why did your dad marry Lavender?'

'I think it's because she's also outgoing and stuff. And because she's an unpredictable cook,' I added, remembering the time she gave me blue cupcakes.

'Do you approve?' he asked.

'Does it matter? It's my dad's love life, not mine.'

'That's very generous... I wonder,' he thought.

'What?' I asked.

'Would he extend the same courtesy to you, do you think? No matter who your choice was?'

'I guess, but it's different, he's the parent after all,'

'No one too scary then,' he teased.

I grinned, 'What do you mean by scary? Multiple facial piercings, facial tattoos and a whole load all over?'

'That's one definition I suppose.'

'Do you think _I_ could be scary?' he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I studied his face. 'I guess, you could be scary if you wanted to.'

'Are you scared of me now?' he asked, serious again.

'No.'

_Should I be scared?_ I asked myself.

I went back to what we were talking about. 'Well, are you going to tell me about your family?' I asked.

'What do you want to know?' he asked cautiously.

'The Cullens adopted you?'

'Yes.'

'What about your parents?' I asked after a moment of hesitation.

'They died many years ago.'

'I'm sorry,' I mumbled.

'I don't remember them clearly. Carlisle and Esme have been my parents for a long time now.'

'And your brother and sister?'

He glanced at the clock on the dashboard.

'My brother and sister, and Jasper and Rosalie for that matter, are going to be quite upset if they have to stand in the rain waiting for me.'

'Oh, right,' I said, realizing that we were at my house.

'And you probably want your car back before your mom gets home, so you don't have to tell her about the Biology accident.' He grinned and I grinned too.

'See you tomorrow,' I said, opening the door.

'Me and Emmett are starting off the weekend early,' he said. 'I won't be there tomorrow.'

'Oh, what are you going to do?' I asked.

'We're going to be hiking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, just south of Rainer.'

'I know where it is, sometimes I go there too,' I said, remembering that was the first time we met.

His face went hard; he was probably thinking that he was saying too much.

'Well, bye Edward, see you on Monday,' I said, getting out of the car into the rain.

**AN: That was a sudden ending...Well, I didn't know what else to do. So I just ended it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Chapter five... this is the shortest it ever took me to write a chapter...**

'So, what did Edward Cullen want yesterday?' Jessica asked in Trig.

'I don't know, he never actually got to it.'

'You looked a bit angry,' she said.

'Really?' I asked. 'Was that the first time he sat with someone other than his family?' I asked.

'Yeah, it was,' she said.

'Oh, no wonder everyone looked at me surprised.'

On Friday Edward didn't come like he said yesterday. I looked over at his table and saw that he and Emmett were absent. Only Jasper, Alice and Rosalie were there, talking with their heads close to each other.

That afternoon after I got home I decided I should go hunting. I didn't go out hunting in a long time and if I was going to La Push with my friends, I should at least be full so I won't injure any of them.

As I dropped my bag onto my bed, I thought about what Edward said. He was going hiking to Goat Rocks Wilderness. He was probably going hunting with his brother.

I went down the stairs quickly, nearly bumping into Anna in the process.

'Anna, I'm going out hunting,' I said, putting on my boots. They're Converse boots, the ones with the laces that go all the way up.

'Is the thing still going on?' she asked

'Yeah it is,' I said.

'But didn't you say you had something bothering you and you found out what it was?' she asked.

'I did solve it.'

'What was it?'

I stayed quiet.

She cocked her head to the side and gave a small smile. 'Is it a secret?'

I looked at her. I should tell her I knew what the Cullens and I were. But what if it wasn't true? What if I was just imagining stuff? There was a risk but I was taking it.

'I know what I am,' I whispered.

The smile faded away from her face.

'There's nothing wrong with you darling. It's just that-'

'I'm part vampire, aren't I?' I said, interrupting her.

She was quiet for a moment. 'How'd you get to that?' she asked.

'Am I right?' I asked.

She hesitated before giving me an answer. 'Yes.'

'Doesn't that make you or dad a vampire or something?' I asked.

'Yes, I'm part vampire too,' she said. 'Quarter vampire to be exact. Your great grandma was a human and married a vampire,' she said.

'Why'd you hide this from me?' I asked. I wasn't mad at her; I was a bit down because she didn't trust me to keep quiet.

'It's not that I don't trust you, I mean, if I told you were a vampire when you were small, don't you think you'd be scared of yourself? My parents told me when I was five and I couldn't stand being near any human because I was afraid I was going to hurt them. It took them a year to convince me I wasn't going to hurt anyone so we moved and I started a new life basically, not afraid of killing anyone. But I still had to go hunting, like you said. I went with my dad and with my aunt when she came over since they were both half vampires; they were twins.'

'Wait, you have an aunt? And a dad? But you told me your parents died in a train crash when you were five?' I said, not getting whatever she was getting to. She told me that her parents died in a train crash and she went to an orphanage until she was sixteen. She even has _pictures_ of the crash. No one could've survived. The brakes of the train were broken and it went through the wall of the station and fell a few feet.

'My dad survived, my mom didn't,' said Anna. 'Actually, my aunt and dad raised me after the crash. I grew quickly and I looked sixteen while I was only twelve. One of the perks of being part vampire. Then I was able to get out of the orphanage and I looked for my parents. But I always called my aunt mom; they did look like a couple.'

'My grandpa is alive?' I wondered aloud.

'Yeah, if you want you can visit him and my aunt. They live in Alaska. If you want we can go there in the holidays,' she said. 'But my aunt really looks like you, so much you two could be sisters.'

'Sure. But it'll be pretty weird. Seeing your grandma which looks as old as your mom...'

She laughed. 'I guess it will. Vampires are immortal, that's why she didn't die. I'm not too sure actually, since she's half human she might be able to die... Well, after the crash, my mom went to Maryland to find her brother. She stayed there with him for a few years until they moved to Alaska.'

'Vampires are immortal?' I asked.

'Yeah, they are. The moment they are turned they never age. Well, they do age but their appearance never changes. But I think the human blood and vampire blood mixed up the growth rate. But you never answered my question. How did you find out?'

I answered truthfully. 'The boy in my Bio class, Edward, was like me. He was inhumanly fast, strong and beautiful. And to be honest, on the first day I was here I didn't nearly get eaten by a bear. I saw him and his brother, Emmett hunting. Emmett didn't see me but Edward did. And then I ran away.

'And the day of the car crash at school, he stopped the van but I was already out of the way. He stopped the van with his bare hands and got there too fast for the human eye to see anything. And he could also hear from very far. Then I made a list and my first thought of what he is was a vampire since they drink blood. And then a website answered my questions and everything else added up to it. Are the Cullens also vampires?' I asked.

'And you figured all of that by yourself. Note to self, never underestimate your daughter,' Anna muttered to herself. 'I should tell you the truth, yes they are. But they were changed when they were human. Lily, if you want you can go hunt now. Thanks for telling me you know what we are,' she said to me.

I whizzed out the door and into the rain. I ignored the rain since it was just a faint drizzle, one that was probably about to end soon. Once I was out of sight, I sprinted speedily into the woods. Edward was going to Goat Rocks Wilderness and now I was going to go there and tell him I knew what he was.

It took about a minute until I was surrounded by the usual green of the Wilderness and was covered by the canopy that sheltered me from the rain. I started walking silently, only hearing the faint growls of bears as they caught sight of me. I think I was too far, they just weren't bothered or I didn't seem too dangerous for them to attack me. I ignored all the growling, hearing out for any sign of Edward.

After a while, I saw a mountain lion. I smiled to myself. I always liked a challenge. I was planning on ignoring it but the lions were rare so I took my chance while I still have had it.

The lion sighted be and pounced. I stepped out of the way easily, the lion missing me by inches. It turned around and growled at me. That was when the chase began.

The lion was inches behind me, I could feel it's claws trying to grab me. I could've easily outrun it or turn and kill it but this reminded me of when I was about ten and we played tag. They could never get to me but I could always get them. I saw a branch that hanged a bit high but it was low enough for me. I jumped up and grabbed the branch, swinging myself upwards and landing feet first on the branch.

The lion watched me, waiting for me to get down so it could kill me. To be honest, this lion was smart. Usually when I stayed up in a tree, the lion would turn away and I'd pounce onto it, digging my teeth into it's neck and draining it immediately. But this lion probably saw me slay another mountain lion or it was just smart.

I ran down the branch and jumped a few meters away from the lion. This time I wasn't cautious and he landed on me, his jaws inches from ripping my throat out. I attempted pushing him off and succeeded on my third try. I held him in an iron grip and thrashed in my grip but he couldn't move his limbs. His jaw grabbed my arm and nearly ripped it off but I barely felt anything. I sunk my teeth deep in his neck, draining him. After a moment he stopped moving.

I looked at my arm, a little bit of blood was trickling out of the cut but it was already healing. If vampires couldn't get hurt at all, a part vampire could heal quickly; I thought as I wiped the blood on my jeans and continued my trek.

As I walked, I froze once I smelled the scent I've grown to love, the sweet honey smell. I didn't want him to find me so I climbed a tree and followed the scent. I stopped once it got so strong I knew he was at the river, not being able to see me because I was up in the trees. He was next to a dead mountain lion; a pack of them was probably nearby. He was watching his brother a bit further away, fighting with a bear. Emmett had a huge grin on his face; he seemed to like it when the bear got frustrated when he couldn't seem to reach Emmett fast enough.

I stayed up in the trees until Emmett was out of sight, well, out of _my_ sight. I was pretty sure Edward was able to see him since his eyes seemed focused on something in the distance.

I dropped down from the trees, getting Edward's attention immediately.

'Are you having a nice hike Edward?' I asked casually like I always meet someone in the middle of a forest where a lot of bears are.

'How'd you get here?' he asked.

'By foot,' I said.

'Running?' he asked.

I nodded.

'So, what brought you here?'

'I know what you are.'

Silence. But I could still hear the growling of the bear and Emmett teasing the bear.

'What's your theory?' he said. Then he nodded, but I'm pretty sure it was to Emmett, not to me because it was a tiny movement. I heard footsteps that were barely audible and guessed that Emmett was giving us some privacy.

'Are you a vampire?' I asked.

It was silent.

'I'm part vampire,' I said once he didn't say anything. 'My great grandpa was a vampire; my great grandma died giving birth to my grandparents. My mom is quarter vampire which makes me eighth vampire,' I said.

'That's ridiculous,' said Edward.

'That's what I thought too, but you better believe it, because it's true. My mom explained to me, and she said it herself, your family are also vampires,' I said.

He turned his back to me and started walking. I followed him.

'But then I decided it didn't matter,' I said.

He turned sharply to me. 'It doesn't _matter?_' he asked.

'It doesn't matter to me about what you are,' I said.

'You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not _human_?'

'No. And I'm not fully human either. I'm part monster, if that's what you want to call it.'

'But are you always a monster? I'm one every single moment of the day. You're only one for about half an hour or more,' he said coldly.

'But at least you knew what you were. My parents kept it from me because they didn't want to me to be scared of myself and today I had just told my mom I knew. So I lived fifteen years thinking it was normal, so if I met someone else like me, it'd seem normal to me.'

He nodded and we walked in silence.

'I have a question,' he said.

'What is it?' I asked.

'What parts of your family have vampire blood in them?' he asked.

'My great grandpa was a vampire, and my great grandma died having twins, Clarisse and Daniel Savage. Then Daniel and a human had my mom Anna. And Connor and Anna had me,' I said.

'What about Clarisse?' he asked. 'Doesn't she have children?'

'I guess, but I think she only had one, and her child married a vampire and I don't know if she had any children or not,' I said. I remembered my mom saying that vampires don't age once they're turned. 'How old are you?' I asked. This question surprised him.

'Seventeen,' he answered honestly. So he was probably changed when he was seventeen.

'And how long have you been seventeen?' I asked.

'A while,' he said.

'Okay,' I said.

'I have a question, don't laugh, but how can you come out in daytime?' I asked.

He laughed anyways, 'Myth.'

'Burned by the sun?'

'Myth.'

'Sleeping in coffins?'

'Myth,' he paused. 'I can't sleep.'

'At all?' I asked.

'Never,' he said quietly.

Wow. When I was younger, I used to wish I didn't sleep so I could finish my homework. But now that I think about it, the day is twenty-four hours long. If you couldn't sleep, what would you be doing in the eight extra hours?

My mind drifted off into multiple directions. If Edward had been seventeen for, let's say, ten years, people would realize if he never aged right? So the Cullens probably moved around. Oh, no wonder he was good in Biology, he probably did it for several years.

'I have a question, when did you start hunting animals instead of humans?' he asked.

'Never. I always hunted animals instead of humans. I just found it wrong hunting humans because I used to think I was one. But I don't think I'll ever switch my eating habits.' I answered honestly then I looked at my watch. 'I have to go now, my mom'll get worried if I hunt for more than fifteen minutes,' I said.

Edward raised an eyebrow. 'Fifteen minutes?' he asked.

'She knows it takes me one minute to get here and five minutes until I get satisfied. I'm only part vampire so I don't have to drink a lot of blood. And you could say that my mom is over-protective, whenever I come at home she has her first-aid kit ready in the cupboards incase I have a lot of scratches. But that never happened before,' I said, turning to the way to my house.

'Where'd you get that scar from?' he asked. I looked at my arm. The cut that had been bleeding a few minutes ago had faded into a pink scar, barely visible to me but probably standing out to Edward.

'Oh, that. A mountain lion nearly ripped my throat and arm off,' I said. He looked shocked. 'What? I don't have super strength like you, I always get some battle scars.' I checked my watch again and picked up my pace, running.

'How fast can you run Lily?' he asked, easily falling into step with me.

'I usually stop going faster once I go so fast things are blurry,' I said picking up my space, sprinting.

Edward ran right next to me and I looked at him.

'Are you really going to my house with my?' I asked.

'No, I'm just escorting you home,' he said. Seems like something boys do in the 1900s, I thought to myself. Perhaps he was born in that era.

After a few quiet seconds I started slowing down since we were nearly at my house.

'So, when did the vampire attributes start?' he asked as we walked.

'I don't really know. My parents said they realized when I was four and I had a temper tantrum. My skin turned pale and I punched the wall and I dented it.' I laughed, remembering my mom telling me that. 'Anna, my mom, said that Connor, my dad, had to use a piece of brick to dent the wall so it didn't look like a toddler's fist.

'When I was nine my mom realized I thirsted for blood. I nearly killed my friend's rabbit when I was at her barbecue. Anna stopped me in time and we left the barbecue early. Me and Anna went into the forest path we usually use when we go to her house. Anna said my eyes were as dark as coal. She was actually scared of me. Whenever my mom saw someone she'd speed past them fast enough so I couldn't smell them and so I wouldn't be a danger to them. But in the forest path I could smell a doe. It was probably half a mile away but I could still sense it. I didn't even know what I was doing. But in three seconds I was in front of the dead animal, crying because I killed an animal.'

I heard a car and looked up. I didn't realize I'd been looking at the floor as I told him this. We were at the entrance of the forest near my house.

I started walking but Edward stayed where he was.

'Bye Edward,' I said, barely turning around.

I heard a faint mumble but I was pretty sure it was him saying, 'Goodnight Lily.'

I jogged to the front door and instead of meeting the wooden door, I was faced with my mom.

'Why are you late at home? Half an hour,' she asked, crossing her arms.

'I was with a friend,' I said.

'Was that Edward Cullen?' she asked.

'Yeah,' I said.

'Did you tell him you know what he is?' she asked.

'And I told him what I was.'

Anna looked like she'd protest but thought better of it and let me in.

I ran up to my room, and opened my school books. I had homework about the third act of Macbeth so I spent most of my afternoon doing it.

It took ages to do it since my mind was preoccupied with other things. Like things I hadn't thought about before.

Edward was right. This is ridiculous. Do vampires really exist? But if vampires exist, do the other mythical creatures exist? Werewolves, wizards, witches, imps, elves. No. They don't. No I'm being ridiculous. Well, let's just hope they don't exist.

**AN: I hoped you liked this chapter. I MIGHT not update this story because I'll be going on holidays to Ivory Coast and I might not have any internet there... But I'll bring my laptop so I can still write the chapters. But I MIGHT have internet there, I'm not sure.**


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